OKLAHOMA CITY – The Sooner Athletic Conference announced its Scholar Team Awards presented by Barnes & Noble College on Tuesday and for the first time ever, Mid-America Christian placed all seven of its athletic programs on list.
To receive SAC Scholar Team accolades, a team must have maintained a combined 3.0 grade-point average in conference sponsored sports.
"Having all seven teams recognized by the conference as Scholar Teams is an incredible accomplishment," said MACU Athletic Director Marcus Moeller. "We are so fortunate to have professors, support staff and a campus full of people willing to help our student-athletes."
The MACU softball team, which was awarded an NCCAA Scholar Team Award last month, not only recorded the highest GPA of all of MACU's athletic programs at 3.72, but also set the highest GPA of all softball teams in the Sooner Athletic Conference with Oklahoma Panhandle State being the next closest at 3.60.
The Mid-America Christian men's soccer team not only had a successful season on the field by winning the 2019 NCCAA National Championship, but also performed remarkably in the classroom. The Evangels notched the highest GPA among all soccer teams in the league at 3.50 with Wayland Baptist coming in second at 3.28.
The women's basketball team turned in the second-highest combined GPA of MACU's athletic programs at 3.55. Academically, the Evangels scored four points higher than last year's team (3.51) as well as 19 points higher than the SAC Scholar Team from 2017-18 (3.36). It is the program's second academic honor as the Evangels were also awarded NCCAA Scholar Team Award back in June.
The MACU women's soccer team also pieced together one of its finest seasons athletically and academically, recording a combined GPA of 3.44. The Evangels topped their SAC Scholar Team Award-winning seasons of 2018-19 (3.40) and 2017-18 (3.07).
While the volleyball team qualified for its first NCCAA National Championship Tournament in 15 years, the program continues to excel in the classroom by notching a 3.32 GPA, its highest average in the last three years.
After just missing out on the previous two SAC Scholar Team list, the MACU men's basketball team was one of only three men's basketball teams in the league to be distinguished with scholar team honors after turning in a combined GPA of 3.10.
The Mid-America Christian baseball program rounded out the honorees by notching its third straight SAC Scholar Team accolade with a combined GPA of 3.03.
The Evangels had several individual student-athletes honored by the league in June as MACU had a program-record 106 student-athletes named to the SAC Commissioner's Honor Roll, the first time the Evangels have ever had more than 100 student-athletes named to the list.
"The student-athletes have worked extremely hard to achieve this level of success in the classroom and I am so proud of them," said Moeller. "We've been fortunate to have experienced unparalleled success on the court and field. We believe adding this level of classroom excellence makes it all the more incredible."
